If
you purchased the full version of Design-Ease (single user or network license)
and haven't registered, you can do so on-line at www.statease.com/de_register.html.

WHAT
IS NEW IN VERSION 6?

A description of what’s new
can be found in the help system. In the program, choose Help/Contents from the
menu bar. Under the topic, "Welcome to Design-Ease 6," you will find
a section titled, "What’s new in version 6 (the highlights)."

When you try to run Design-Ease
6 for the first time, you may see the following message:

C:\Program Files\DE6\DE6.EXE
A device attached to the system is not
functioning.

The MSVCP60.DLL file is linked to missing export
MSVCRT.DLL:_lc_collate_cp

This error message indicates
that you have an older version of MSVCRT.DLL on your system and it is being
loaded instead of the one supplied with DE6. The best way to avoid this problem
is to install the DLLs to the system folder.

If you did install the DLLs
to the system folder, check the version on the msvcrt.dll located file there
by right-clicking on it and choosing properties. It should be version 6.00.8397.0
or later. If it isn't, the install was not successful and you should try to
reinstall.

For Windows NT 4.0 or Windows
2000, you will need to log on with an account that has administrator privileges
in order to install the DLLs in the system folder.

WINDOWS NT 4.0:

When you choose "Install
Design-Ease 6" from the main menu, the setup program will warn you if you
do not have the proper authority to install system files. You will need to log
out of your current account and log in as an administrator then restart the
installation.

WINDOWS 2000:

If you do not have administrator
rights, Windows 2000 will give you an opportunity to enter a suitable account
and password when you launch the install program.

MISSING FUNCTIONALITY
/ KNOWN BUGS

The following are minor bugs
or missing functionality that will be fixed in future updates of Design-Ease
6. Patches will periodically be posted on the Stat-Ease web site at www.statease.com
under the software section. You may want to check it periodically for updates.

None
reported.

BUGS
FIXED SINCE DX 6.0.10

These
bugs noted in version 6.0.10 have been fixed in 6.0.11.

Mostly cosmetic fixes.

OTHER
CHANGES SINCE DX 6.0.10

Improved network diagnostics.

BUGS
FIXED SINCE DX 6.0.9

These
bugs noted in version 6.0.9 have been fixed in 6.0.10.

If your factorial design
has curvature, and you remove the curvature from the model, the residuals
in the diagnostics are incorrect.

In earlier versions,
pure error included any extra degrees of freedom from replicates across blocks.
Since this was not deemed to be true pure error, the degrees of freedom reported
was changed to only include that from replicates within blocks. With 6.0.10
a compromise has been struck where we include replicates across blocks adjusting
for blocks. The total DF for pure error is now DF of replicates within blocks
+ DF of replicates between blocks - number of blocks.

Factorial models that
have a saved model with no main effects show incorrect effects on the normal
plot and effects list.

Simulation and Equation-Only
do not accept designs with more than 30 factors. That limit has been increased
to 75 in 6.0.10.

The addition of the [Network]
section to the CUSTDATA.INI in version 6.0.8 introduced a new problem. With
the DeleteBeforeSave=1 setting
a fatal error occurs if you try to save your design to a new file name. In
6.0.8 you can correct that by changing the value to DeleteBeforeSave=0.
In version 6.0.9 the error condition has been resolved and this directive
now works properly.

CHANGES
SINCE DX 6.0.8

"Export Design to
AAO file" now includes the standard, run, and block numbers.

New Network Metering:
Built-in metering on earlier versions was implemented by a third party product,
softSENTRY, which has been discontinued.The new metering
product, Protection PLUS, works in a similar fashion to softSENTRY, but is
more robust. See Details on new network metering.

BUGS
FIXED SINCE DE 6.0.7

These
bugs noted in version 6.0.7 have been fixed in 6.0.8.

In some environments
the model for previously analyzed responses would be lost when loading from
a file.

On some network configurations
you could not save over an existing file. The error message, "Access
to [filepathname] was denied." A correction can now be enabled by adding
the follow two lines to the CUSTDATA.INI file located in the program application
folder:

[Network]
DeleteBeforeSave=1

OTHER
CHANGES SINCE DE 6.0.7

Added "Export Design
to AAO file" for some special automation applicationsThis feature
exports just the factor names and values in a text table.

Program would crash if
you tried to save a candidate set to a read-only file.

Better error checking,
minor problems with user interface, and various other corrections to the internal
operations of the program.

OTHER
CHANGES SINCE DE 6.0.6

Improved handling of
aliased factorial designs.

BUGS
FIXED SINCE DE 6.0.5

These
bugs noted in version 6.0.5 have been fixed in 6.0.6.

Network installations
that use Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path names may produce an error
when opening Help. This is a problem inherent in the Win2000 help format that
displays the index and content side-by-side in the same window. The cure for
that was to map a drive letter to the program location. For administrators
who want to stick with pure UNC names, we have added a standard single-pane
version of the help.

Problem with partial
sum of squares choice causes crashes in some cases, and possibly errors in
other situations.

Equation only fails if
you change a factor from numeric to categorical without changing the equation
to correspond.

Various other minor corrections
we made to the internal operations of the program.

OTHER
CHANGES SINCE DE 6.0.5

The
following functionality has been added or changed.

Program preferences
formerly stored in DE6.INI are now saved in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stat-Ease\Design-Ease
6. This change was made to conform to current Windows standards. Users who
did not have full access to system files could not save preferences as they
were not allowed to update the DE6.INI file.

NOTE: Your old preferences from earlier versions will be lost. You will
need to restore them in the program.

If you wish to keep using the INI file instead of the registry, you can
do so by manually adding the following lines at the beginning of the DE6.INI
file:

[special]
UseIniPrefs=1This will direct Design-Ease to
the INI file for preferences,
and your old settings will not be lost.

BUGS
FIXED SINCE DE 6.0.3

These
bugs noted in version 6.0.3 have been fixed in 6.0.5 (there was no version 6.0.4
of Design-Ease).

Program can crash when
attempting to use a 1 Factor factorial created by DE5/DX5 as the model wasn't
converted correctly.

Values reported for
responses in Point Prediction used a different precision (format) than the
design layout screen.

If the plot range for
either effect of Interaction graphs are extended (say from -2 to +2), the
plotted prediction line only goes from -1 to +1

Copy / paste into Design
Layout can get confused if the target column has both data and empty cells.

Predicted values are
incorrect for center points when you take curvature out.

OTHER
CHANGES SINCE DE 6.0.3

The
following functionality has been added or changed.

Added the ability to
change the y-axis on an evaluation and other standard error graphs.

When pasting into Design
Layout, a period (.) was set to 0.0 in earlier versions. That is now interpreted
as a missing value.

New Microsoft C / C++
DLLs are included in the update.

BUGS FIXED SINCE DE
6.0.2

These bugs noted in version
6.0.2 have been fixed in 6.0.3.

Corrected several problems relating to unbalanced designs
and non-hierarchical models.

Equation Only now returns you to the equation edit screen
if an error is detected in the model.

On NT4 and Win98 Design-Ease would hang when trying to
insert a column after the last response following an analysis.

Changing the number of levels on categorical factors could
cause the levels to reset to the default of two.

Factor tool in graphics needed to be disabled for one-factor
designs as it doesn’t apply.

Program could crash if you tried to open a read-only file
that is being shared.

If you selected “force precision’ then integral values
like standard order, run order, etc. were also displayed with decimal points
and trailing zeros.

If the program folder in mapped directly to a drive letter,
as may be done for a network install, then Windows 95 / 98 would not find
the serial number file. NT and Win 2000 worked OK.

The simulation editor allowed you to designate the factor
type as “Mixture” which doesn’t apply in Design-Ease. The Equation Edit form
also presented a drop down choice of coding choices for the Mixture factors.
Both of these were removed.

OTHER CHANGES SINCE
DE 6.0.2

The following functionality
has been added or changed.

Added a “Reset to default” button in the graphs where
applicable.

Added a Cancel button to the design builder to allow you
the exit gracefully from long operations, particularly in the candidate-based
designs.

In the alias list view of effects the default for highest
order term listed was changed from 4FI from 3FI.

On perturbation graphs, only factors present in the model
will be displayed.

Under Edit Preferences, the areas “Math Analysis” and
“Math Design” were renamed “Math” and “Design” respectively.

BUGS FIXED SINCE DE
6.0.1

These bugs noted in version
6.0.1 have been fixed in 6.0.2.

Design-Ease will crash if you attempt open a file with
a pathname that exceeds 128 characters, an older windows standard.

The block generators for two of the 4 block, 2-level factorial
designs are incorrect and should be edited to the correct generators when
you use these designs. The two designs are: 14 factors with 4 blocks in 64
runs (the correct block generators are 1=CDE and 2=BCF) and 15 factors with
4 blocks in 128 runs (the correct block generators are 1=ABEF and 2=ACEG).

You cannot print a selected region of a report, or specific
pages. You must print the entire document.

If your display is in the 256 color mode, some of the
graphics, such as the splash screen and design builder graphs, are displayed
in the Windows 16 color palette.

OTHER CHANGES SINCE
DE 6.0.1

The following functionality
has been added.

A new font choice, “Graph legend font,” has been added
to the fonts and colors preferences.

A cancel button has been added to the progress bar for
operations that are known to take a long time to complete.

The following functionality
has been changed.

The “Force everything exponential” feature under the Edit
Preferences (Math) has been changed to “Force precision.” The old form forced
all data to be displayed in E notation with the prescribed number of significant
digits. The new form will display in standard floating notation unless the
number of significant digits won’t fit. In that case, the E notation is used.

The following missing functionality
has been removed as a feature for the current version.

Print preview does not work for graphs.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Here is a sampling of what
can be found in the Help system. In the program, choose Help/Contents from the
menu bar. Expand the topic node, "Welcome to Design-Ease 6," and you
will find a sub-topic titled "Program Hints and Frequently Asked Questions."

Q.

I can’t find a command
that I expected to be here. Where should I look for it?

A.

Try clicking the RIGHT
mouse button. In conformance with Windows standards, the right mouse button
is used extensively throughout the program for various options.

Q.

How can I import data
from a spreadsheet?

A.

Data can be imported
and exported using the standard Windows cut and paste operations. Simply
highlight the group of cells (or select all) and select copy (Ctrl-C).
Go to the program you want to paste them into and select paste (Ctrl-V).

If you are trying to
import a new design from a spreadsheet, first set up a similar dummy design
in Design-Ease making sure the factor levels are correctly defined. Next
duplicate (or delete) rows in the design layout to get the desired number
of rows. Last, copy and paste the data from the other source into the
design layout over the old dummy data.

Q.

Why do I get different
results than the program gives me when I do the calculations myself?

A.

Differences between
program results and hand calculations are normally due to a loss of significant
digits when transferring values from Design-Ease to the program or calculator
used to make the calculations. These differences can be particularly pronounced
when a transformation is being used. For example, for readability, coefficients
for the model on the ANOVA sheet are, by default, only displayed with
2 decimal places. You can increase the number of decimal places displayed
by choosing the "force precision X decimal places" option under
Edit/Preferences/Math.

To make sure you are
not using truncated values, use the standard Windows cut and paste operations
to copy the values (e.g., from the ANOVA sheet) and paste them directly
into the spreadsheet or calculator program you are using to perform the
calculations.

Q.

How do I view a graph
of actual vs. predicted values, or some other combination of variables,
which is not already provided in the program?

A.

This can be done by
inserting one or two blank responses in the design layout and copying
data from reports, like the Diagnostic section at the bottom of the ANOVA.
Then choose Graph Columns using these new columns. The extra responses
can be deleted when you are finished looking at or printing out the graph.

Q.

In many cases, it’s
cost-prohibitive for us to replicate the experiments to account for experimental
variation. Is there a method using DE6 for us to utilize repetition (multiple
samples) in each trial run?

A.

When there are multiple
samples for individual runs, it is important to distinguish between experimental
error (variation in control factors) and sample error (variation in sample
measurements). You need to replicate the whole experiment to measure experimental
error.

To handle sample error,
you can take multiple samples for a particular run and enter the mean
and standard deviation of the measurements as two separate responses.
This will provide you with a single value (the mean), and a measure of
the sample error (the standard deviation). It does not, however, give
you any more information about the experimental error than is already
provided by the hidden replication of the design.

Q.

How can I change the
coding of a factor, or several factors, when the coded values have gotten
messed up? This can happen if you enter actual values while displaying
coded factors or edit the highs and lows in the design layout rather than
the factor info dialog.

A.

Follow these steps:

Display the data in the design
layout in actual units.

Click on a factor header to
highlight the data in the column.

Copy (Ctrl-C) to the clipboard.

Right click on the column header
and select "edit info..."

Change the +1 / -1 levels to
the actual factor levels. Watch out for CCD's so that you don't enter
the alpha values here.

Click OK and you will see the
actual factor levels change to new incorrect values.

Paste (Ctrl-V) the original
values back into the column. You will get a warning message. Click OK!

Repeat steps 2 to 7 for the
remaining factors.

Q.

In the design builder,
parts of the display appear to be missing or overlapping.

A.

The program was designed
for a minimum resolution of 800x600 using small system fonts. If you are
using 640x480 or 800x600 with large fonts, not all views in the design
builder will appear as they should. You can make these screens usable
by turning off the design descriptions that appear at the top of the screen.
To do this, follow these steps:

Get out of the design builder
and go back to the main view.

Select Preferences from the
Edit menu.

In the "Math Design"
section, check the box that is labeled: "Do not display design
descriptions."

NETWORK
ISSUES

Prior to release 6.0.9 the
built-in network metering was controlled by a third-party product, softSENTRY.
That product, and support for it, has been discontinued by the vendor. Because
of some recent issues with that product we needed to find a replacement. Starting
with version 6.0.9 the built-in metering is now handled by Protection PLUS which
addresses several problems reported with the earlier product.

1. Network license lockup.

If the program terminated
abnormally, softSENTRY did not release the license for other users. The PLUS
system will release the unused licenses.

2. Restricted user issues.

If the user had limited
privileges on his own computer he might get the error, "cannot save message,"
when trying to launch the program. softSENTRY attempted to write information
to protected system areas on the disk which the user didn't have access to.
Protection PLUS does not attempt write data to the local system areas and thus
will work with restricted user privilege.

3. Launch from a data file.

On many systems you could
not launch the network version by clicking on a data file. The error message
"cannot write meter file" would appear as the system could not locate
the control folder. This has been corrected with the new scheme.

4. Install the executable
on the workstation.

Users with slow network
connections can now improve the performance of the program by installing the
executable on their local hard drive. The WrkSetup.exe gives you the choice
of either running from the server or locally. When you choose a local install,
the program executable and two help files are copied to the designated drive.
A CUSTDATA.INI file is also created with the following two lines:

[Network]
NetworkPath=<path>

Where <path> is the
location of the program on the server. When you run the local copy it will check
the the server application for an available license.